Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Android smartphone

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Eye candy

The headphones are a decent quality in-ear pair with noise-isolating grommets and they sound pretty good, with a full, rounded tone that offers plenty of bass but keeps it under control. There’s a ten-setting equaliser, TrackID and an option to search YouTube for related content for each track. There’s an FM radio too, though reception wasn’t very extensive – it was only able to find half a dozen stations where I live in north London.

Visually appealing in more ways than one

Syncing is achieved using PC Companion, which includes data backup in the cloud and the ability to sync your contacts and data over the air. The handset comes with an 8GB memory card which you can bump up to 32GB, if you feel the need. Battery life held up fairly well for such a well-specified handset, delivering well over a day of fairly heavy use.

Verdict

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc is a very classy Android phone. It looks refreshingly different from other Androids and keeps pace with HTC for usability, but beating the Koreans soundly with a quality camera and a stonkingly good screen. ®